


Too Old for a Padawan

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Jedi Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 12:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7758013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where Qui-Gon survived Naboo, he is called upon to take up the training of a new padawan, despite his age. As it turns out, Leia Naberrie might be the perfect padawan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Old for a Padawan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spookykingdomstarlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/gifts).



> All of your prompts intrigued me, but this one stole my heart for an idea.

Qui-Gon Jinn grumbled as he walked, his hand on the staff he used for support, even as Yoda walked beside him, his own cane at hand.

"I am too old to properly handle a padawan's training," the human pointed out. "You don't take padawans any more; why do you insist I come to the exhibitions and try to force me to do so?"

"Older, yes, you are. Too old, no, you are not." Yoda looked up at the tall human, only just barely showing the signs of age despite his preference for the staff. "Perhaps no Initiate will call to you, but tragic would be the lack of bonding, were you not present to the right one, hmm?"

Qui-Gon snorted at him, but let the matter drop as they entered the salle where the current crop of Initiates were. He was distressed to see the tendency for them to be even younger than ever had continued, but it only made sense. An awareness of losing Force-sensitive children to the Dark Side had made its impact, and the need to support them more one-on-one had led to this. Instead of Initiates in the human-equivalent range of twelve to thirteen, he was looking at a mob of children between the ages of nine and eleven.

Despite his dismay, his eyes swept the room, and quickly found two who stood out to him, two that he had met casually as small children. He had not seen them much since they had officially come to the Temple at age five.

That had been five years ago, making the Naberrie twins age ten now. He wondered how proud their mother must be, or if she merely was fretting over the choice both had made to embrace their heritage as Force-users, instead of following her into politics. Not for the first time, Qui-Gon found himself marveling over their poise and absolute pulse of Light within the Living Force. 

"See the twins, you do. Asked they were, to have one master or two. Chose to have two, they did," Yoda said, sounding pleased. "Strong in the Force are they, and bound to outside influences. A difficult time, perhaps, for the masters choosing them."

"I think you underestimate how willing to learn they are, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said, as he joined them to watch the exhibition of Force control and lightsaber techniques.

Qui-Gon squeezed Obi-Wan's hand in greeting. "Intending to take a new padawan at last, old friend?" he asked his former student, well-aware that losing Anakin in foiling the plot of the Sith had left its mark on the man.

"I believe the time has come, yes," Obi-Wan agreed.

Despite his own disinclination toward teaching again, Qui-Gon watched the exhibition intently, noting the strengths and weaknesses of these Initiates as they showed off under Knight Ashla's guidance. Time and again, Qui-Gon's eyes went back to the twins, noting how well they were working together, and how easily they managed to work against each other in the competition portions. He couldn't detect jealousy or even rivalry in their signatures as they did so, making him even more intrigued at the choice to take separate masters. Twins were the rare exception to the one master and one student rule. They had also, in past times, been the exception to the rule against bonding, as most twins were born with a Force-bond in place.

By the time the Great Melee was on, Qui-Gon knew two things. The first was that the twins would be an unstoppable force and the second was that he wished to guide the girl. She had more subtlety to her maneuvers than he had been prone to at the height of his career, but ever since his injuries on Naboo, he had adapted to a more carefully measured approach to combat.

He was one of the few not surprised in the least when the twins, despite being younger than some of the others, managed to outlast and defeat the majority of the rest of the Initiates before finally facing one another.

It was the boy who conceded the fight, however, before more than a few careful blows had been exchanged, leaving the girl as the victor.

The Masters and Knights on hand started moving among the Initiates then, and while a few might have been interested in the twins, they all moved away, as not only Qui-Gon but Obi-Wan moved in their direction. Neither man had taken a padawan in years; no one wanted to dissuade them.

"Why did you concede?" Obi-Wan asked the boy as they reached the pair. The boy looked up with brilliant blue eyes, and gave a small smile. 

"I know she can beat me. Why should we waste energy showing it?"

"A wise choice, Luke Naberrie." Obi-Wan crouched down to be more of a level with the boy. "Will you allow me to take you as padawan?"

"You're Master Obi-Wan Kenobi; you could have any padawan you chose! Why me?" the boy asked.

Obi-Wan did not hesitate. "I see great potential in you, and your mother is a friend."

"Then yes," the boy said.

As they walked away together, the girl looked up at Qui-Gon, who regarded her evenly for a long moment. She broke the silence. "Will you take me as a padawan, Master Jinn?" she inquired, voice calm and inquiring, not demanding. "Or were you merely indulging your curiosity over Master Kenobi's choice?"

Qui-Gon had to smile at that. "What if I do wish a padawan, Leia Naberrie? Would you be content with a man as aged as I am to teach you?"

Leia regarded him for a long, deliberate moment, then nodded. "Age means survival. Survival means skill and knowledge. Even if you might be limited physically -- which I doubt, because the Force is your ally -- there are others who can teach me those skills. It is knowledge I prefer to have."

Qui-Gon could not help but light up, seeing in her a stubborn will and a mind that moved toward paths not unlike his own. He reached one hand to her shoulder, watching carefully for her own cues. When she made no sign of protest, he let his hand settle there. "Come then. We will need to move your belonging to my apartment. The padawan chamber has been empty long enough."

"Thank you… Master."

+++

Leia settled at the table once they both had plates and juice. The pair had been together for a full tenday, and she was beginning to understand that having a Master meant taking care of said individual. It was a wonder that Master Qui-Gon was as fit as he was, if his failure to remember such things as food was anything to go by.

It wasn't a bad thing, though. She would remind him it was mealtime and he would go to make it, switching from practical lessons to discussion of politics, history, and other topics. 

"Why did you and Luke choose to have separate masters?" was the lead question for today's discussion. "As twins, you would have been allowed to stay together in training."

The girl nodded and sipped her juice to clear her mouth. "We have a famous mother already. Staying together would have added more notoriety to our existence, something neither of us wants. We'd already seen the … unease, because we were part of the younglings who came in at a later age than those who were temple-raised."

"Yes, but that is now the more common way, and rightly so," Qui-Gon said. "However, I can see that it would have added to the difficulty of acclimating."

Leia nodded a little, then looked at her master with her own curiosity. "Why did you choose to take a padawan now? Mother said you had not taken another since you recovered from your injuries on our homeworld."

"Stays up with the Jedi, does she?" Qui-Gon asked, somewhat amused. "While I do remember meeting the pair of you, and your mother is always wonderful to run into, that had little to do with it." He regarded the girl with a fond expression. "You remind me a bit of someone, much as your brother does, apart from your uncanny ability to mimic your mother."

Her eyes blinked once, and he caught the edge of worry in her, before she settled, and they both ate a few more bites. Qui-Gon did not push the matter, but eventually Leia chose to address it. A strong padawan-master training bond needed full honesty.

"Do you know who our father was?" she asked bluntly.

He nodded once. "I suspected, all those years ago, but let it go. I believe Obi-Wan knows. Your brother, he reminds me of your grandmother, a calm and steady focus to him. But you… you have more of your father's charisma and fierceness. Put that with your mother's traits that both of you have in spades, and I can see the making of a great Jedi in you."

Leia hesitated, then spoke again. "You're not angry, over the secret?"

Qui-Gon snorted. "No. I only wish he had lived to see the reformation of the Code, that would have better protected him. And let you both, along with your mother, have him in your life."

That answer suited Leia perfectly well, and she resumed eating.

+++

As much as Qui-Gon detested the form, it soon proved evident that Leia's size and dexterity was more than suited to the use of his own Master's form, Makashi. 

"You had to be difficult on this, didn't you?" Qui-Gon teased as he led Leia to one of the smaller training salles. 

"Of course, Master. I chose Form II solely to displease you," she said with a roll of her eyes. She did take a moment to squeeze his fingers, though. "Look at it as making something good out of bad memories?" she offered in a softer voice, as they had discussed, briefly, the pained relationship Qui-Gon had experienced with his own Master.

"There is that," he agreed, opening the doors to reveal the elegantly fierce Togruta Master, Shaak Ti. "Master Ti, Padawan Naberrie." He rested his hand on Leia's shoulder. "I am honored you have accepted to serve as her lightsaber tutor."

Shaak Ti inclined her head, then looked at Leia. "Padawan, if you would be so kind as to join me here, every day, at this time, when you are in Temple? And warn me when you will not be available?"

Leia smiled radiantly, and nodded. "I promise, Master Ti."

+++

"Just," and Leia paused to deflect a blast her way, "because I prefer Makashi, doesn't mean I neglected Soresu!"

"For which I am highly grateful now!" Qui-Gon said, using a Force push to open the path ahead of them. "Obi-Wan?" he inquired, before dragging his lightsaber around to block a heavier blast from a rifle.

"Knight Offee, actually," she answered, before adding her own Force push that cleared the corridor and let them actually break out of its confines. 

"Remind me to thank her, then." He just hoped they made it to their ship before he lost the firm pressure he was keeping against his bleeding injury. "And to be more careful in picking our missions!"

Leia only laughed. "I thought negotiations went well, until the minister's factions decided to try aggressive tactics."

"The story of my life, padawan!"

+++

"Master," Leia began. "You once asked me to be perfectly honest with you, and to try and not keep secrets."

Qui-Gon looked at his padawan of nine years with amusement, already certain he knew where this was heading. At ninety-two years of age, he was fairly sure nothing Leia could say would shock him, but he was prepared to handle it in a manner that would convince her to better follow her instincts.

"That last mission, the one on Tatooine? I may have become a bit distracted by one of the allies we made."

"The scruffy one or the warrior?" Qui-Gon asked her, just to see color come to her cheeks. 

"He's not scruffy!" she defended.

Qui-Gon chuckled at her, then slowly shook his head. "My padawan," he said softly. "Does this mean you wish to face your Trials?"

While relationships were not forbidden as they had been in the time of her father, there was a rule that the Jedi in question had to be both of legal adult age and Knighted to pursue one. Padawans, it was felt, were too likely to be immature and incapable of balancing their relationship against the needs of the galaxy.

"No," Leia told him, which did surprise him. "I want permission to correspond with him, and learn if it was a mutual feeling, while I continue to train. I am not ready to be a Knight, but I also do not want to lose contact with Han or Chewbacca."

Qui-Gon felt his pride in her swell all over again. "A wise choice, my dear. Yes, correspond. And if we need transport, I will endeavor to see if he is available, to allow you to see him even. As I am certain you will be circumspect in your choices concerning him?"

"Of course, Master!" Leia promised.

+++++

"Fifteen years, Leia," Qui-Gon said softly. He ran his fingers over her braid, irritated by the shake in them. "Longer than Obi-Wan."

"His was slightly forced," she reminded him, but her voice was thick with emotion. "I could still learn more."

He drew her in for a hug. "No, my brave padawan. It is time. Beyond time, even." With a gesture, he drew his lightsaber and staff to him. With both secured, he guided her to the Hall of Trials, knowing she would pass them with flying colors.

That did not, however, keep his nerves from being unsteady as he kept vigil, waiting for her to emerge. As he waited, he considered how rich she had made his life, between her inquisitive mind and her knack for trouble.

Taking her braid would be an emotional moment, but it would never be a regret. And that, Qui-Gon knew, was the best part of having a padawan. Living long enough to see her start her own journey was every bit as satisfying as training Obi-Wan had been, despite his age.

"Take another, will you?" Yoda asked,sitting beside him with a smile.

Qui-Gon laughed uproariously, his worry over Leia in her Trials momentarily forgotten. "You are incorrigible, my Master. But yes… if the Force continues to see me along, and a padawan calls to me, I would do so."

"Hmm, good. Good."

They waited together, neither one willing to leave, until Leia emerged, looking haggard and defiant all in one, her slim shoulders unbowed by whatever the Hall had given her. Qui-Gon stood to meet her, and she sagged into his embrace gratefully.

"Congratulations, Knight Naberrie," Yoda said formally. He then gave witness as Qui-Gon made the expected cut of her braid… and she pressed it into his hand to keep. 

"Thank you, for being my padawan," he said softly, full of pride for her.

"Thank you, for being my master," she answered, before hugging him again.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Losses Which Shape Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10210760) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly)




End file.
